Parliament Today 26 June 2014

1. Dr JIAN YANG to the Minister of Finance: What changes has the Government made in recent years to make the tax system fairer and to help families and businesses get ahead?

2. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Internal Affairs: On what basis was the recall and cancellation of New Zealand Passport LN138690 undertaken?

3. Hon DAVID PARKER to the Associate Minister of Finance: Does he still believe that a 33 cent top marginal income tax rate is the reason for fewer departures to Australia in 2014?

4. CATHERINE DELAHUNTY to the Minister of Education: Did she write a new preference factor for Partnership School applicants on the 14 November education report “Confirming Round Two of Applications to Operate Partnership Schools”; if so, on what advice?

5. CHRIS AUCHINVOLE to the Minister of Conservation: What reports has he received on the extent of the damage to West Coast forests from Cyclone Ita and what estimates are there of the area affected and the volume of wood felled?

6. PHIL TWYFORD to the Minister of Housing: How many homes out of the 5,000 earthquake damaged Housing New Zealand homes have completed repairs as part of its Repair 5000 programme?

7. TIM MACINDOE to the Minister of Education: What recent announcements has she made to celebrate and recognise the highly effective and innovative practice happening across the education system?

8. Hon PHIL GOFF to the Minister of Defence: Has there been a reduction in the capacity of the Army in the last three years to sustain an overseas deployment; if so, why?

9. MELISSA LEE to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: What support is the Ministry of Social Development providing to people in Christchurch still dealing with the impact of the earthquakes?

10. GARETH HUGHES to the Minister of Conservation: Does he agree with the statement given on behalf of the Minister of Energy and Resources that “there has not been a single observation of a Māui’s dolphin in the block offer area”?

11. CAROL BEAUMONT to the Minister of Justice: Given the magnitude of the problem of family violence, is it acceptable to her that none of the Family Violence Death Review Committee’s recommendations from their last annual report have been completed, and no action has been taken on a number of recommendations around funding family violence training for professionals, and addressing the need for better multi-agency practice addressing family violence?

12. KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI to the Minister of Statistics: What is the Government doing to modernise the next census?

Today Labour are asking about the top tax rate, housing repairs, deployment capability of the New Zealand army, and family violence. The Greens are asking about partnership schools funding, and dolphins. New Zealand First is asking about the recall and cancellation of passports.

Patsy question of the day goes to Tim Macindoe for Question 7: What recent announcements has she made to celebrate and recognise the highly effective and innovative practice happening across the education system?

The Appropriation (2014/15 Estimates) Bill is being guided through the house by the Minister of Finance, Bill English. This bill seeks parliamentary authorisation of the individual appropriations contained in The Estimates of Appropriations for the Government of New Zealand for the year ending 30 June 2015 .

The Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 3) is being guided through the house by the Leader of the House, Gerry Brownlee. The Bill’s purpose is to prevent the lapse (expiry or deemed revocation) of certain subordinate legislation that, by virtue of the Acts under which it is made, lapses at a stated time unless earlier confirmed or validated by Act of Parliament.

The Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill is being guided through the house by the Minster of Commerce, Craig Foss. This bill amends the Commerce Act 1986, introducing criminal sanctions for hard-core cartel behaviour and making amendments to provisions that govern jurisdiction and penalties.

To us, who pay their salaries, secretaries, offices and expenses? Hardly, or we’d know about them.

To their parties, who can deploy them triennially to tout for the votes of ethnic minorities on the unspoken promise they’ll receive representation out of all proportion to their numbers, but who then (like the rest of us), get diddly squat – unless they happen to have a few hundred thousand lying round looking for political home?

dime

“2. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Internal Affairs: On what basis was the recall and cancellation of New Zealand Passport LN138690 undertaken?”

LN138690? hmm is that ole john chows passport? From what i can tell that happened before my time. I can only assume the chowy didnt buy enough $15,000 bottles of wine etc from the last mob

“3. Hon DAVID PARKER to the Associate Minister of Finance: Does he still believe that a 33 cent top marginal income tax rate is the reason for fewer departures to Australia in 2014?”

yes, dipshit. now im sure youre gonna present some stat youve found but the reality is lower taxes keep kiwis and their families in nz. oh and just to make it sound more warm and fuzzy, a top tax rate helps young mums. piss off.

“4. CATHERINE DELAHUNTY to the Minister of Education: Did she write a new preference factor for Partnership School applicants on the 14 November education report “Confirming Round Two of Applications to Operate Partnership Schools”; if so, on what advice?”

what on earth are you wearing and what is on your head? youre worried about charter schools? you should be more worried about what evil whitey did to our noble maoris 200 years ago! for shame!!!

“5. CHRIS AUCHINVOLE to the Minister of Conservation: What reports has he received on the extent of the damage to West Coast forests from Cyclone Ita and what estimates are there of the area affected and the volume of wood felled?”

which one are you again?

“6. PHIL TWYFORD to the Minister of Housing: How many homes out of the 5,000 earthquake damaged Housing New Zealand homes have completed repairs as part of its Repair 5000 programme?”

a good few! ill tell you a stat though, 3863 of those houses are inhabited by ingrates who think they have a right to stay in them for life at our expense!

“8. Hon PHIL GOFF to the Minister of Defence: Has there been a reduction in the capacity of the Army in the last three years to sustain an overseas deployment; if so, why?”

yes. why you ask? cause YOU left us in so much debt and gave away so many lollies we have had to make cuts somewhere. you should retire, youve been here 40 years. get out, see the world. maybe try your luck in the private sector *snigger*

“10. GARETH HUGHES to the Minister of Conservation: Does he agree with the statement given on behalf of the Minister of Energy and Resources that “there has not been a single observation of a Māui’s dolphin in the block offer area”?”

yes. but feel free to present a statement from some lying communist green to the contrary. i like the mauis dolphin but if i hear about it one more time im gonna have 55 bbq’s!

why dont you try something new? tell us that the stewart island snapper head will be affected by drilling in the naki.

ill go ya one better. let us hook all you green dicks up to a lie detector machine to find out how much of your bullshit you actually believe. if you can convince us youre not just communists with better marketing we will look at the drilling. deal?

“11. CAROL BEAUMONT to the Minister of Justice: Given the magnitude of the problem of family violence, is it acceptable to her that none of the Family Violence Death Review Committee’s recommendations from their last annual report have been completed, and no action has been taken on a number of recommendations around funding family violence training for professionals, and addressing the need for better multi-agency practice addressing family violence?”

god youre ugly. seriously, i just had lunch.

back to your question. to summerise, why arent we throwing good money after bad? why should we? the anti smacking bill fixed everything.

“12. KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI to the Minister of Statistics: What is the Government doing to modernise the next census?”

jesus christ! youre an MP? you drove us to that thing once! i thought you were a taxi driver. can you believe we pay you 150k a year? lol

peterwn

rrm – Kiwi Keith advised backbenchers to ‘breathe through their noses’ for the first three years. Jonathan Hunt said that the best MP’s were those who took the bother to find how Parliament worked in their initial years in Parliament. Former mayors (when mayors sought to be MP’s rather than the reverse as nowadays) found it particularly hard to adapt and Mark Blumsky did not succeed. A new MP is assigned to a few Select Committees and is expected to come to grips with the policy areas covered and make a positive contribution. Much select committee work is non controversial but needs to be done well to ensure quality legislation. This tends to go un-noticed by the public, but a valuable and conscientious contribution to Select Committee work is noticed by the Ministers and PM and is rewarded by being given a deputy chair or chair role. At this point a MP is in a position to make a more vocal contribution. One of the infuriating things about National MP’s (in the eyes of the Opposition) is the way they stick together in the House – they settle their differences in the Caucus Room then get on with the job.
So this is why new MP’s do not appear to be particularly vocal in their first few years. By the way, remember that the Party Vote is everything on Election Day – It is the duty of candidates to maximise the party vote in their electorates even at the expense of their own votes. MP’s whose parties are on the skids are may not heed this. Candidates who do not heed this (I am thinking particularly of National candidates) are unlikely to get a decent list placing next time or even be quietly advised to seek a different career direction.

I know someone who is at the start of a possible Parliamentary career. It will be interesting to see if that person gets into Parliament and if so how that person performs. Various people start climbing the political ladder then realise a political life is not for them (generally before even seeking a candidacy).